Oils lose steam as market rally fades

LisaSanders

NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Oil and gas stocks lost steam at Friday's close - mirroring movement in the broader market -- though most energy sectors ended the week on a modestly positive note.

Shares of ExxonMobil
XOM, -1.29%
rose 4 cents to close at $34.02 and the CBOE Oil Index
OIX, +0.50%
rose by close to 1 percent to settle at 244.81.

Crude futures, which neared $40 a barrel Thursday, dropped 60 cents to settle at $36.60. Also on the New York Mercantile Exchange, April natural gas jumped 61.6 cents to settle at $8.101 per million British thermal units. See Futures Movers.

Chesapeake Energy
CHK, -1.63%
the second-most active stock in the energy sector Friday, said it priced a public offering of 20 million of its common shares at $8.10 each. The Oklahoma City-based firm plans to use proceeds to finance pending acquisitions, repay the outstanding balance on its revolving credit facility, and for general corporate purposes. In addition, Chesapeake priced an offering of 4 million shares of cumulative convertible preferred stock at its liquidation preference of $50 per share.

Shares lost 8 cents to close at $8.12 on volume of 16.4 million - more than eight times the daily average.

American Electric announced a stock offering Wednesday, and said late Thursday it had priced 50 million shares for $1.5 billion - or $20.95 each. That brings total shares outstanding to 389 million. American Electric added 83 cents to close at $21.78.

Oil service stocks lost some steam in midday trading, but still managed to remain largely higher. Shares of Schlumberger
SLB, -2.12%
rose by 75 cents to close at $41.61, and the PSE Oil Service Index
OSX, -2.22%
was up 0.1 percent to close at 88.19.

In the power producer group, Mirant
MIR, +0.00%
snapped a two-session skid. Late Tuesday, the power generator delayed its year-end report because it has yet to complete a re-audit of 2000 and 2001. The stock was up 4.7 percent to close at $1.35.

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